“Fab Feb at Lost Hills has to be the best Free Flight event on the
planet. The field is great, the weather is great, the flying is great,
and the people are great. To fly with people from 30 countries, with
perhaps 10 past world champions among them, is a wonderful
experience. We really like the flying, but we’d be happy to go there
just to watch and catch up with old friends.”
—Malcolm Campbell and Kathy Burford, Australia

The Electric Revolution

The year 2016 marked the beginning
of the F1S event, and Fab Feb featured
the second and third contests of this
highly anticipated gathering. F1S is
identical to AMA E-36, except for the
five-round format and the standard
motor run set at 10 seconds. The
afternoon flyoff for F1S at the Kiwi Cup
provided some excellent drama in tricky
lift conditions. Dick Ivers (USA) took
the top spot as the only flier able to max
on the 5-second flyoff run.

Three years ago, I created the first
E-36 World Open Championship,
featuring a unique format of the AMA
event, plus a single-flight evening mass
launch, totaled into a single, factored
score. This year, the World Open was
generously sponsored by CB Model
Designs and Bill Vanderbeek.

The very deserving

2016 World Open Champion is Derek
McGuckin from the state of Washington.

Special Memories

It was widely agreed that it was
the best weather ever for Lost Hills in
February. It was simply outstanding-to-perfect the entire eight days. The many
international sportsmen were not at any
disadvantage having to retrieve on foot,
and much test-flying was accomplished
during the downtime between contests.

California fliers Jim Parker,
Roger Morell, and Mike McKeever
spearheaded a build-and-fly event for
local Lost Hills kids during the Isaacson
competition. It was an inspiring sight to
watch these elite fliers donate an entire
day of personal flying time to help these
youngsters, many of whom enjoyed
excellent flights with their
catapult gliders.

The worst hard-luck story was
Reinhard Truppe, an F1C flier from
Austria, who suffered a baggage-handling nightmare. His model box
had its end broken off, and clearly some
model parts fell out and were sloppily
stuffed back in. It must have fallen from
a great height or it had been run over.

All of Reinhard’s models were
severely damaged. He missed the Kiwi
Cup, but with the help of his entourage
one podium place.